“What follows is a rough blueprint for several crucial aspects of American foreign policy, which we believe the next occupant of the White House should adopt...”
That is how the Center for New American Security characterizes it’s report, titled “Extending American Power” (PDF). If you don’t think this is the neoliberal answer to PNAC’s infamous blueprint, “Rebuilding America’s Defenses,” you are not paying attention.
Not all members of the group would adhere to every formulation or argument. However, every member of the group does agree emphatically with the core principles informing this report. In particular, we all agree that a new U.S. approach should be based on the following fundamental assumptions:
1. The best way to ensure the longevity of a rules based international system favorable to U.S. interests is not to retreat behind two oceans, lower American standards, or raise the tolerance level for risk. The proper course is to extend American power and U.S. leadership in Asia, Europe, and the Greater Middle East – regions where threats to the international order are greatest and where either new approaches or more consistent application of time-honored approaches are most urgently needed.
2. Achieving this critical objective will require strengthening all the elements of American power: diplomatic, economic, and military. An urgent first step is to significantly increase U.S. national security and defense spending and eliminate the budgetary straitjacket of the Budget Control Act. A second and related step is to formulate policies that take advantage of the substantial military, economic, and diplomatic power Washington has available but has been reluctant to deploy in recent years.
3. Despite all the predictions of decline in the West and the rise of the rest, America’s economy has proven to be the most dynamic and the most resilient in the face of financial and other recent shocks. As a result, a substantial increase in spending on military, international economic, and diplomatic capabilities is well within our means.
4. All of which provides the basis for our strong belief that the United States still has the military, economic, and political power to play the leading role in protecting a stable rules-based international order. For the next president then, the question is not whether America has the wherewithal to provide more active international leadership, but whether America’s government has the will.
[emphasis added]
This is the policy for the next administration. But don’t worry. It ain’t all about the need to significantly increase the (bloated and unaudited) defense budget.
One bright spot is that the current administration has completed negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and is working toward the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), both of which are sure to generate significant controversy. In that regard, we urge Congress to take up, consider, and approve the TPP as soon as possible.
Good times.